There was a world to explore and people to meet. Everyone had a story to tell and Malcolm had the knack of telling them.

But it is his own remarkable life story, shared by family and friends at his final farewell, that will be Malcolm’s legacy. A lifetime of achievements, how he chose to live a full and rewarding journey, shared the world with others and made lifelong connections along the way featured in his final chapter.

Malcolm was born on 4 May 1944 in Summer Hill to parents Evelyn and Kenneth Andrews.

The family moved to Cooma in 1952 where Malcolm and his brother grew up as ‘Snowy kids’ with his father Ken landing a job on the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

Malcolm inherited his gift of storytelling from his dad and his way with words served him well in high school as one half of a dynamic debating duo with friend Steve Liebmann.

He joined Sydney University in 1962 where he attempted and failed an engineering course.

It was a night spent behind bars at Central Police Station that saw the birth of his journalistic career when he fired off a letter to the Telegraph about the appalling condition of the holding cell. The same letter was published in the Sydney University newsletter by then editor Laurie Oakes.

Malcolm started on the police rounds at the Sydney Daily Telegraph in 1965 and the rest as they say is history. He worked at the Central Court of Petty Sessions, the Telegraph and Radio 2UW before heading to England at 23 for a stint in North Hamptonshire on the Evening Telegraph.

His big break was a start on the Daily Express on London’s Fleet Street in 1968.

English pubs played an integral part in finding the stories of the day and became an alternative office and a home away from home for Malcolm.

In England he met Madeline Jones and they married in 1969. After a trip around Europe, the couple returned to Britain where Malcolm took up a position as a reporter on Rupert Murdoch’s the Sunday Australian. His first child Marcus was born in 1972 followed by second son Murray in Germany in 1974.

It was not long after the family moved to Australia that the couple’s marriage ended and Madeline returned to England with the children.

Malcolm met his second love Helen Read in the mid 1980s on a blind date in Sydney. They married in 1988 and welcomed son Lachlan in 1990.

“Although our marriages ended, our friendships didn’t,” Helen said. “Malcolm never failed in his role as a father for his boys. He has been a great dad,” Helen said.

On the Telegraph in Sydney, Malcolm covered all manner of stories – it was a roll call of who’s who, wannabes, wish they hadn’t been and those thrust into the limelight. Crims and cons, politicians and artists, people from all walks of life. He was trackside, ringside, in stands or out on the road with a photographer.

He was in the homes of billionaires and with the ordinary men and women who achieved the extraordinary. Wherever there was a story to be had, Malcolm was there treating everyone with the same politeness and respect.

In a career that spanned the last 53 years, Malcolm was known as a “journos journo”. He had a regular spot talking all things travel on Strawny’s radio show and a weekly column in the Port Macquarie News.

He penned more than 30 books with the last – Geez That’s a Bloody Good Story – remaining unfinished.

He loved music and art, saw the beauty in all things and loved his home in Port Paradise. He equally loved travelling on his beloved ship Sea Dream, good food, cooking and of course the odd pint and lashings of the White Infuriator (white wine).

Malcolm always said he never worked a day in his life because he was paid to do what he loved.

Friend David Ellis said Malcolm was a bloke who was forever friendly, polite, courteous with the ladies, and a mine of information no matter what questions were raised about whatever the subject. He was extraordinarily well-read, and despite his propensity to talk, took in everything.

And despite his bachelor life, the arrival of his first grandchild became a crowning point for him. From the very first moment he learned that little Elias was on the way, Malcolm would mention it in virtually every phone call they would have, David said.

Malcolm Andrews was a great man who lived an even greater life. He passed away on 10 October 2018.